Dear Lab/Shul,
Today we come to you with wishes of Chag Sameach for Shavuot and an invitation, through the eyes of a longtime partner, to join us in sacred community next Shabbat. Stay tuned for a recap from tonight’s overnight Shavuot celebration.
Each month in our Lab/Letter, we share a Partnerhood Spotlight: a space to highlight the people, projects, and stories that shape our community and the many ways Lab/Shul-ers bring creativity, care, connection, and curiosity into the world.
This month, we’re honored to spotlight Zoe Adlersberg, who reflects on finding belonging through Lab/Shul, and how Jewish ritual, storytelling, meditation, and community helped her feel fully at home in her spirituality.
And speaking of finding space to slow down, breathe deeply, and simply be exactly who you are: join us for Zen Shabbat on Friday, May 29th in NYC + online, with our partners at the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care — a shared evening of ritual music, meditation, and spiritual teachings led by Koshin Paley Ellison and Spiritual Leader Shira Kline, harmonizing the Jewish Sabbath slowdown with traditional Zazen meditation practice.
It stays with me.
Two humans on stage, sharing their experiences of being othered, shunned for their differences. Race. Sexual orientation. Beliefs. They spoke about the pain and isolation of not being accepted. It was impossible not to feel it. To step into their shoes. To recognize pieces of our own stories in theirs. To sit with that feeling of not belonging.
This was Lab/Shul.
Through Storahtelling, Steve and Stephanie brought the Torah to life for Rosh Hashanah. I cried, as I always do at Lab/Shul—moved by the power of the artistry, bringing the Torah alive by the way it opens something in me. The feeling of being held by a community made up of so many different beliefs, ages, upbringings, and experiences and connected by one shared intention: to learn, to grow, to understand, to love.
It is with Lab/Shul that I finally found my home.
I was raised as a Reform Jew. I identified as Jewish from a young age, but I never fully felt at home in traditional synagogue spaces. I often felt othered—unable to be fully myself in my spirituality. I couldn’t read Hebrew. I didn’t know all the songs or Torah stories. I didn’t believe in a traditional idea of God. I loved the music, the rituals, the gathering—but I also found myself drawn to Buddhism, which made sense to me, but that only deepened that feeling of being in-between. A “Jew-Bu.” Neither here nor there.
And then I met Amichai.
He made space for all of it. He showed me that it was okay to be exactly who I am: Jewish, Jew-ish, or Jew-adjacent. God-optional. He even did Zen Shabbats with two Buddhist teachers I loved! And the best part is there are others in the community just like me.
No longer othered. No longer alone in our Judaism. Together.
Every time I am with the Lab/Shul community, I feel incredibly lucky to have found this home. Lab/Shul has allowed me to connect more deeply, to grow, and to pass along a joyful, open, and approachable Judaism to my daughter. One where all people and beliefs are welcomed and held with care.
Led by people who refuse to other. Who believe every human deserves love and belonging.
For these reasons, Lab/Shul is my home and this community is my heart.
With love,
Zoe Adlersberg, Partner for 5 years
www.zoeadlersberg.com
Zoe’s story reminds us that belonging is not about fitting in, but about being fully seen and held as we are. It reminds us that community can make space for every part of who we are, including the parts that feel in between. At Lab/Shul, that is what we strive to practice every day.
We hope you’ll join us for Zen Shabbat on Friday 5/29 and then for our B Mitzvah Gala on June 18th.
See you soon,
The Lab/Shul Team
